My San Diego: Neglected communities deserve a chance to thrive

Poverty and environmental degradation go hand in hand. Research has shown that the lower your income, the greater the likelihood that you will be exposed to toxic chemicals and air pollution at home and on the job. This increases the likelihood of suffering from serious diseases ranging from asthma to cancer.

When you are low-income, you struggle to find affordable housing, safe streets to walk to school, healthy food for your family, and safe outdoor spaces for your children to play. As recent history tragically exposed, the poorest among us are more vulnerable to environmental catastrophes, whether they are climate disasters like Hurricane Katrina or man-made tragedies like the BP oil spill. In short, the worst consequences of environmental degradation are visited on the homes, workplaces, families and bodies of the poor.

As economic indicators continue to worsen, we know that people who already were struggling before the recession are suffering the most. In San Diego, the poverty rate grew to almost 15 percent in 2010. This rate is even greater in San Diego’s environmental justice communities like Barrio Logan, City Heights and Westside National City, where more than 80 percent of residents are people of color and more than 25 percent live in poverty.

Businesses in these communities use and store more than 290 million pounds of toxic substances and wastes each year. Haphazard zoning and lack of enforcement means that people in homes, schools, and day-care facilities are exposed to pollution from businesses like plating and auto body shops. Asthma-related hospitalization rates for children in these areas are nearly twice the county average.

Advertisement

What can we do to transform these communities into healthy, thriving neighborhoods?

Adopt strong regulations. Both Barrio Logan and Westside National City are adjacent to Port of San Diego Marine Terminals. Diesel trucks traverse these neighborhood streets more than 50,000 times each year to transport goods. Diesel-powered vehicles emit particulate pollution known to cause cancer and exacerbate asthma. In 2010, after vigorous demands from the community, the port adopted a rule requiring all trucks entering port terminals to comply with new state air pollution control laws. Compliance has increased to almost 100 percent in the last year, resulting in an estimated 85 percent reduction in diesel particulate matter from trucks. This new rule greatly benefits communities close to the terminals, those near the freeways and improves the region’s overall air quality. What’s next? All trucks should now be subject to the same requirements to reduce diesel pollution even more dramatically.

Invest for green communities. Stimulating the economy through investment in sustainable infrastructure makes sense. Instead of starving disadvantaged communities of valuable assets and local revenue by shipping wealth away, why not bring prosperity and opportunity to local businesses by making existing buildings energy efficient, installing solar panels on rooftops, constructing safe pedestrian/bike routes, and building transit networks. This is starting to happen at the state level as Gov. Jerry Brown has committed to constructing 12,000 megawatts of smaller, local renewable energy projects closer to where electricity is consumed. These projects can generate clean energy and also create economic opportunity for communities that have borne the brunt of the impacts from dirty energy generation.

Create fair planning for every community. Many environmental justice communities suffer from discriminatory land-use and zoning that allows the mixing of industrial and residential land uses with disastrous impacts on residents’ health and quality of life. In 2010, National City took strong action to correct this problem and adopted the Westside Specific Plan, which changed zoning to prohibit industrial uses near schools and homes. In 2012, the city of San Diego will have the chance to reverse 50 years of bad planning in Barrio Logan. A community stakeholders committee has overwhelmingly approved the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update draft plan. This plan separates polluting businesses from homes as the neighborhood revitalizes and directs future industrial development to the outskirts of the neighborhood away from housing and schools.

Advertisement

SANDAG is updating its Regional Transportation Plan, which should result in reduced vehicle miles traveled to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. SANDAG’s reliance on auto-centered strategies does not deliver the environmentally sustainable transportation system our region needs. The plan also ignores the impacts on overburdened communities and should be redrafted.

No child should live in a neighborhood that makes them sick. No parent should worry that their lives are being cut short because of the air they breathe. Environmental justice communities have paid the price for dirty energy and unjust land use for far too long. Now is the time to undo the damage to these communities and give them what they deserve – a chance to transform their neighborhoods and thrive.